Time to Wake Up!

"And now, knowing the time, that it is now high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than we believed." (Romans 13:11)

When I was young, my dad used to wake me up in the morning by coming downstairs to my room, wiggling my big toe, and telling me kindly that it was time to get up.  This was much better than a blaring alarm clock or anything else for me.  He probably doesn't know it, but many of those mornings I woke up as he came down the noisy staircase or even a few minutes earlier, but waited in bed with my eyes closed for him to come wiggle my toe.  I was quick to obey, and was usually one of the first ones upstairs at the table for breakfast.  I've been a morning person ever since.

Christi also rises quite early we have found :) Most of the time, when she wakes up (between 4:30 and 5:30 in the morning) she cries or yells out a little as she awakes.  Just a little usually, but enough to alert her parents and sometimes her siblings.  That's my cue. I'm the keeper of the morning routine around our house, and have found that the way Christi is first greeted makes a big difference for her.  If she is shushed or controlled she gets angry.  So for the last while the greeting of choice has been, "Hi Princess!! How did you sleep?" - spoken with as much enthusiasm as I can muster.  She always responds, "Good."

In the scriptures, awakening has to do with coming to see things as they really are.  President Packer taught, "True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior...That is why we stress so forcefully the study of the doctrines of the gospel."  In that sense, we all should have patterns of awakenings, big and small, as God teaches us true doctrine through scriptures, prophets, promptings, and life experiences.  The whole experience of this last week has been an awakening to me I guess also.  There are a number of sacred and personal things that I have learned.  As I have come to understand each of them more clearly and fully, I have felt each time a great desire and motivation to act on them.  The Lord is such a great teacher and motivator!  The way He awakens me to what I should know and do to become more like Him is sometimes a sharp change (like waking up can be), but His call is always filled with love and kindness.  Do I always "awake and arise" as I should when he 'wiggles my toe'?  Do I make the changes I need to make when I am shown them?  He promises us, "If men come unto me, I will show unto them their weakness." (Ether 12:27)  That may sound harsh if I forget his kindness and love for me. He loves me enough to teach me.  That is one of the reasons he asks us to study His gospel.  He continues, "...I give unto men weakness that they may be humble, and my grace is sufficient for all those that humble themselves before me, for if they humble themselves before me and have faith then will I make weak things become strong unto them."  That is the hopeful promise that those who "awake and arise."
          
A little over 2 hours ago a doctor, then a team of doctors, entered my Christi's room here at Phoenix Children's hospital.  They announced a dramatic change in plans for Christi's path toward waking from her coma.  Instead of taking from five days to a week, they are going to wean her off the drugs that are keeping her in a coma today! This means she could wake up as soon as tonight! I can hardly wait to hear her cry out and greet my princess again!  Mustering enthusiasm will not be a problem, containing it might be :)

There are a number of possibilities that we are preparing for as she awakes.  She may linger under the effects of her medication or her long sleep for a while; she may come back as lively as she has ever been; or she may exhibit a new baseline from any damage that has been sustained to her brain.  Whatever the case, we are excited for whatever this new morning brings.

I'll try to do my best now that the stairs have symbolically creaked, to close my eyes and hold still waiting with great anticipation for our toes to be wiggled.  With any possible changes or teachings that the future holds - it's going to be a great morning for us both!   Its almost time to wake up!!